Thanko Vonia Bone Conducting Music Headband

Our Guest Blogger, Steve Levenstein, is a writer, copywriter andJapanophile from Toronto, Canada. The tide of wild, wacky and wonderfulproducts from Japan seems to beg for commentary, and Steve has happily taken on the burden of doing just that. Steve is the Assistant Editor ofThe Driver Magazine and has just set up his portfolio website here.

He has some great inventions from Japan to share with the readers of InventorSpot.com. Here's his article:

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Thanko... thanko very much! That's what you'll be saying - Elvis sneer optional - when you try on the innovative new Vonia music headband. The clever folks at Thanko set out to create a music delivery system that combines great sound quality, portable convenience and a robust design that even allows for use during water sports!

To do that, they had to reinvent the wheel, as it were. The Vonia Bone Conducting Music Headband not only does an end-around the traditional headphone layout but forgoes the use of sound waves altogether. Instead, a unique micro-transmitter in the headband sends your choice cuts direct to your inner ear through the principle of bone conduction. No unsightly electrodes; no messy surgical screws nor anything else remotely as gruesome - it's totally non-invasive with the added benefit of allowing you to hear normally through your suddenly freed up, old-fashioned ears! The headband features a water-resistant pocket to hold your iPod Shuffle or most any small MP3 player, though I'd be somewhat wary of diving off the high board to put its water resistance to the ultimate test. Even so, it should be able to handle the rigors of sweat, splash & sea spray without missing a beat. Literally.

The Vonia Bone Conducting Music Headband is the latest entry in a marketing thrust that seeks to make listening to your fave tracks as unobtrusive and maintenance free as possible. In addition, by bypassing your sensitive ears and those fragile cochlear hairs within, any worries about hearing loss due to excessive loud music will go in one ear and out the other. Truly the headband headbangers have been hankering for!

The Vonia Bone Conducting Music Headband comes in Gray, is compatible with all sound sources using a stereo-mini jack and is available for around $99.00 plus shipping from AudioCubes.

does this send soundwaves directly to the brain? no, obviously not, sound waves are conducted through bone to the cochlea, so the statement that it bypasses the cochlear hairs is false. therefore surely it could still cause hearing damage. in fact perhaps the risks are even higher as you would have to turn the music up louder to drown out the sounds that would have been blocked out by headphones.